Mining in Cornwall and Devon in the south west of England began in the early Bronze Age approximately 2150 BC and ended with the closure of South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall in 1998. Tin and later also copper were the most productive of the metals extracted: some tin mining continued long after mining of other metals had become unprofitable.

Historically extensive tin and copper mining has occurred in Cornwall and Devon, as well as arsenic, silver, zinc and a few other metals. As of 2007[update] there are no active metalliferous mines remaining. However, tin deposits still exist in Cornwall, and there is talk of reopening South Crofty tin mine.[1] Furthermore, work has commenced to re-open the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in south-west Devon.[2] Geological studies were made worthwhile due to the economic importance of mines and quarries: about forty distinct minerals have been identified from type localities in Cornwall, e.g. endellionite from St Endellion. Quarrying of the igneous and metamorphic rocks has also been a significant industry: in recent times the extraction of kaolin has been the most important economically.

The intrusion of the granite into the surrounding sedimentary rocks[3] gave rise to extensive metamorphism and mineralisation,[4] and this led to Cornwall being one of the most important mining areas in Europe until the early 20th century. It is thought that tin ore (cassiterite) was exploited in Cornwall as early as the Bronze Age. Over the years, many other metals such as copper, lead, zinc and silver have all been mined in Cornwall.[5]

Cornwall and Devon provided most of the United Kingdom's tin, copper and arsenic until the 20th century. Originally the tin was found as alluvial deposits in the gravels of stream beds, but eventually underground working took place. Tin lodes outcropped on the cliffs and underground mines sprang up as early as the 16th century.

Tin is one of the earliest metals to have been exploited in Britain. Chalcolithic metal workers discovered that by putting a small amount of tin (5 – 20%) in molten copper an alloy called bronze was produced that was easier to work and harder than copper. The oldest production of tin-bronze is in Turkey about 3500 BC but exploitation of the tin resources in Britain is believed to have started before 2000 BC, with a thriving tin trade developing with the civilisations of the Mediterranean. The strategic importance of tin in forging bronze weapons brought the southwest of Britain into the Mediterranean economy at an early date. Later tin was also used in the production of pewter.

Map of Europe based on Strabo's geography, showing the Cassiterides just off the northwest tip of Iberia

An example of the characteristic pattern of parallel ridges and scarp left by tin-streaming, east of Fox Tor, Dartmoor

Tinner's leat in Trevelloe woods, Cornwall

Mining in Cornwall has existed from the early Bronze Age around 2150 BC. Cornwall was traditionally thought to have been visited by metal traders from the eastern Mediterranean.[6] However, it is likely that the tin trade with the Mediterranean was controlled by the Veneti of Brittany.[7]Britain is one of the places proposed for the Cassiterides, that is Tin Islands, first mentioned by Herodotus.

As South-West Britain was one of the few parts of England to escape glaciation, tin ore was readily available on the surface. Originally it is likely that alluvial deposits in the gravels of streams were exploited but later underground working took place. Shallow cuttings were then used to extract ore.

As demand for bronze grew in the Middle East the local supplies of tin ore (casserite) became used up and searches were made over all the known world for new supplies, including Britain. Control of the tin trade seems to have been in Phoenician hands and they kept their sources secret. The Greeks understood that tin came from the Cassiterides, the "tin islands", of which the geographical identity is debated. By 500 BC Hecataeus knew of islands beyond Gaul where tin was obtained. Pytheas of Massalia travelled to Britain about 325 BC where he found a flourishing tin trade, according to the late report of his voyage. Posidonius referred to the tin trade with Britain around 90 BC but Strabo in about 18 AD did not list tin as one of Britain's exports. This is likely to be because Rome was obtaining its tin from Spain at the time. Camden[8] identified the Cassiterides with the Scilly Isles and gave first currency to the belief that the Phoenicians traded to Britain.[9] However, there is no tin mining on the Scilly Isles apart from minor exploratory excavations. Timothy Champion found it likely that the trade of the Phoenicians with Britain was indirect and under the control of the Veneti of Brittany.[10] The Rillaton Cup and the Pelynt Dagger are two artefacts that have been found in Cornwall that show contact with the Mycenaean Greek world.[11][12]

Diodorus Siculus around 1 BC described ancient tin mining in Britain. "They that inhabit the British promontory of Belerion by reason of their converse with strangers are more civilised and courteous to strangers than the rest are. These are the people that prepare the tin, which with a great deal of care and labour, they dig out of the ground, and that being done the metal is mixed with some veins of earth out of which they melt the metal and refine it. Then they cast it into regular blocks and carry it to a certain island near at hand called Ictis for at low tide, all being dry between there and the island, tin in large quantities is brought over in carts." Pliny, whose text has survived in eroded condition, quotes Timaeus of Taormina in referring to "insulam Mictim", "the island of Mictim" [sic], where the m of insulam has been repeated.[13] Several locations for "Ictin" or "Ictis", signifying "tin port"[14] have been suggested, including St. Michael's Mount,[15] but, as a result of excavations, Barry Cunliffe has proposed that this was Mount Batten near Plymouth. A shipwreck site with ingots of tin was found at the mouth of the River Erme not far away,[16] which may represent trade along this coast during the Bronze Age, although dating the site is very difficult.[17] Strabo reported that British tin was shipped from Marseille.[18]

Ding Dong mine, reputedly one of the oldest in Cornwall, in the parish of Gulval is said in local legend to have been visited by Joseph of Arimathea, a tin trader, and that he brought a young Jesus to address the miners, although there is no evidence to support this.[19]

There are few remains of prehistoric tin mining in Cornwall or Devon, probably because later workings have destroyed early ones. However, shallow cuttings used for extracting ore can be seen in some places such as Challacombe Down, Dartmoor. There are a few stone hammers, such as those in the Zennor Wayside Museum.[20] It may well be that mining was mostly undertaken with shovels, antler picks and wooden wedges. An excavation at Dean Moor on Dartmoor, at a site dated at 1400 – 900 BC from pottery, yielded a pebble of tin ore and tin slag.[16] Rocks were used for crushing the ore and stones for this were found at Crift Farm.[21] There have been finds of tin slag on the floors of Bronze Age houses,[22] for example at Trevisker. Tin slag was found at Caerloges with a dagger of the Camerton-Snowhill type.

In the Iron Age bronze continued to be used for ornaments though not for tools and weapons, so tin extraction seems to have continued. An ingot from Castle Dore is probably of Iron Age date.

The tin resources are said to have been a reason the Romans invaded Britain[23] but they had control of mines in Spain and Brittany in the 1st and 2nd centuries. Later production in Spain was curtailed, probably by raiding. Production in Britain increased in the 3rd century, for use in coinage, and there was extensive use of tin in pewter manufacture, at Camerton in Somerset for example. Cornwall and West Devon are areas which are less Romanised than many other parts of Britain and it may be tin mining was in local hands with tin purchase by the imperial authority. A possible official stamp has been identified on the Carnington tin ingot.[24] A number of tin ingots have been found in Roman contexts such as 42 found in a wreck at Bigbury Bay in 1991–92 .[25][26]

A site in the Erme valley, Devon, shows sediment aggregation in late Roman and Post-Roman times due to tin mining on Dartmoor.[27] There is a peak in activity between the 4th and 7th centuries. Tin slag at Week Ford in Devon has been dated to 570 – 890 AD.[28]

St Piran (patron saint of tinners) is said to have landed at Perranporth from Ireland about 420 AD.

There is no record of tin mining in Domesday Book, possibly because the rights were Crown Property. For the first half of the 12th century Dartmoor provided most of the tin for Europe, exceeding the production of Cornwall.[29] The Pipe Roll of Henry II gives the annual tin production of Dartmoor to be about 60 tons. In 1198 he agreed that "all the diggers and buyers of black tin, and all the smelters of tin, and traders of tin in the first smelting shall have the just and ancient customs and liberties established in Devon and Cornwall." This shows that mining had been going on for a long period by this time. A charter confirming the miners' rights was granted by King John in 1201. The alluvial silt record in the Erme valley, Devon, shows aggradation of tin waste between AD 1288 and 1389.

Following the transfer of power to the Norman lord Robert, Count of Mortain who held the manor of Trematon, silver mining became a major industry, particularly in the Tamar valley around Bere Ferrers in Devon. Established in 1292 by the Crown under Edward I, skilled labour was initially imported from Derbyshire and North Wales and continental capital from Italy and specialist expertise from Germany.[30][31] Profits from rights to the silver mines for the crown led to the rise of the ancient Cornish Edgcumbe family at Cotehele and later Mount Edgcumbe.

The wheelpit at Huntingdon mine

Crockern Tor – Parliament Rock as seen from the "floor" of the Great Court

A statue commemorating Cornish and German miners in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia

In 1305 King Edward I established separate Stannaries for Devon and Cornwall. Water was used to operate "stamps" to crush the ore, the lighter waste being washed away. The mineral "black tin" was placed in furnaces and layered with peat. The molten metal was poured into granite moulds which produced ingots of tin. These were taken on pack horses to the Stannary towns for assaying. Usable deposits in Devon became worked out and so Cornwall was then the center of tin production. In 1337 Cornish tin production was 650 tons but in 1335 it had been reduced to 250 tons by the Black Death. In 1400 Cornish production rose to 800 tons. The production in Devon was only 25% of that of Cornwall in 1450–70.

The tin works of Devon and Cornwall were of such importance that the medieval kings established Stannary Courts and Parliaments to administer the law in Cornwall and part of Devon. Up to the middle 16th century, Devon produced approximately 25–40% of the amount of tin that Cornwall did but the total amount of tin production from both Cornwall and Devon during this period was relatively small.

The Cornish Rebellion of 1497 originated among Cornish tin miners who opposed the raising of taxes by Henry VII to make war on Scotland. This levy was resented for the economic hardship it would cause; it also intruded on a special Cornish tax exemption. The rebels marched on London, gaining supporters as they went, but were defeated at the Battle of Deptford Bridge.

Quarrying was of very limited importance in medieval Cornwall. Stone for church building was very rarely imported from outside the county but most church building was in whatever stone could be brought for short distances. For some ornamental features such as doorways, pillars and fonts good use was made of varieties of elvan e.g. Polyphant and Catacleuze. The granite was not quarried but collected from the moorlands and worked on site. Quarrying of slate developed in north Cornwall in the later Middle Ages and later developed in early modern times into larger undertakings.[32]

After the 1540s, Cornwall's production increased rapidly and Devon's production was only about 1/9–1/10 that of Cornwall's. From the mid-16th century the Devon Stannaries were worth very little in income to the King and were sidelined as such following the Supremacy of Parliament Act 1512, an Act of Supremacy (this did not apply to the Stannaries of Cornwall). The first Crockern TorStannary Parliament in Devon was held in 1494 and the last in 1748. At Combe Martin several disused Silver mines are located on the eastern ridge and evidence of tunnels can still be seen, as well as the remains of a wheelhouse used to lift ore from the mine. There are items in the Crown Jewels made from Combe Martin silver.

A second tin boom came around the 16th century when open cast mining was used. German miners came in who had knowledge of the new techniques. In 1689, Thomas Epsley, a Somerset man, developed a method using gunpowder to blast the very hard granite rock loose, using gunpowder with quill fuses. It revolutionised hard rock mining. Six days work, with a pick, could be accomplished with one blast.[33] A third boom occurred in the 18th century when shafts were dug to extract the ore.

In the 19th century that mining reached its zenith, before foreign competition depressed the price of copper, and later tin, to a level that made Cornish ore unprofitable. The areas of Cornwall around Gwennap and St Day and on the coast around Porthtowan were among the richest mining areas in the world. At its height the Cornish tin mining industry had around 600 steam engines working to pump out the mines (many mines reached under the sea and some went down to great depths). Adventurers put up the capital, hoping that the mine would return them a profit, but the outcomes were very uncertain.

Caradon Hill had the most productive mine in east Cornwall. The South Caradon Copper Mine, 1 km to the SW of the transmitter, was the largest copper mine in the UK in its heyday, 150 years ago. Other disused copper and tin mines are scattered around the base of the hill. By the mid-19th century Looe had become a major port, one of Cornwall's largest, exporting local tin, arsenic and granite, as well as hosting thriving fishing and boatbuilding industries. At Callington arsenic was found with copper ores and was processed by crushing and condensing; the poisonous nature of dust containing arsenic made the work very hazardous. Numerous precautions were taken but the workers tended to die in middleage.[34]Menheniot was a centre of lead mining and is now surrounded by disused shafts and engine houses. Lead seams were discovered in the 1840s and Menheniot became the centre of a mining boom which lasted until the 1870s. During this period the population doubled.[35]Kit Hill Country Park is steeped in mining history. Metals extracted included, tin, silver, copper and tungsten. The main mines were Kit Hill Summit Mines (which included a windmill near the present stack) (started about 1826; Kit Hill United closed in 1864); East Kit Hill Mine, worked from 1855 to 1909; Hingston Down mine (which worked westwards towards Kit Hill, may have started in the 17th century, it closed in 1885; and South Kit Hill Mine, worked from 1856 to 1884.

View from Dolcoath Mine towards Redruth, c. 1890

The last Cornish Stannary Parliament was held at Hingston Down in 1753, and the Devon Stannary Parliament last met in 1748. The Stannary Courts of Devon and Cornwall were combined in 1855 and their powers transferred to local authorities in 1896.

By the middle and late 19th century, Cornish mining was in decline, and many Cornish miners emigrated to developing mining districts overseas, where their skills were in demand: these included South Africa, Australia and North America. Cornish miners became dominant in the 1850s in the iron and copper districts of northern Michigan in the United States, as well as in many other mining districts. In the first 6 months of 1875 over 10,000 miners left Cornwall to find work overseas.

20th century and after

Satellite image of east Cornwall and west Devon marked to show the three locations of china clay extraction

During the 20th century various ores became briefly profitable, and mines were reopened, but today none remain. Dolcoath mine, (Cornish for Old Ground), the 'Queen of Cornish Mines' was, at a depth of 3500 feet (1067 m), for many years the deepest mine in the world, not to mention one of the oldest before its closure in 1921. Indeed, the last working tin mine in Europe, South Crofty, was to be found near Camborne until its closure in March 1998. An attempt was made to reopen it but the mine was then abandoned. There were local media reports in September 2006 that South Crofty was being considered for re-opening as the price of tin had soared but the site was subject to a Compulsory Purchase Order (October 2006). On the wall outside the gate is some graffiti dating from 1999:

"Cornish lads are fishermen and Cornish lads are miners too. / But when the fish and tin are gone, what are the Cornish boys to do?"

The collapse of the world tin cartel in 1986 was the end for Cornish and Devonian tin mining. The most recent mine in Devon to produce tin ore was Hemerdon Mine near Plympton in the 1980s. The last Cornish tin mine in production at South Crofty closed in 1998. Work has commenced to re-open the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in south-west Devon.[when?][2]

The extraction of china clay continues to be of considerable importance: the larger works are in the St Austell district. The amount of waste in proportion to kaolin is so great that huge waste mounds were created whose whiteness in the early years means that they can be seen from afar. The Eden Project has been developed on the site of a former china clay quarry. Extraction of slate and roadstone by quarrying still continues on a reduced scale: it was formerly an important industry and it has been carried on in Cornwall ever since the Middle Ages.[37] Several quarries have been productive enough to need their own mineral railways. Granite of high quality has been extracted from many Cornish quarries such as De Lank and Porthoustock and some has been taken very long distances for use in building. There are also some important quarries in Devon, such as Meldon (a source of railway ballast for the Southern Railway) and granite quarries on Dartmoor such as Merrivale.

Because of the importance of metal mining to the Cornish economy, the Camborne School of Mines (CSM) developed as the only specialist hard rock education establishment in the United Kingdom in 1888. It continues to teach mining as well as many other earth-related subjects relevant to the Cornish economy, such as Engineering Geology. CSM now forms part of the University of Exeter, and has relocated to the University's Tremough campus in Penryn. Despite this move, the students and School continue with the use of "Camborne" in the title. CSM graduates are to be found working in the mining industry all over the world.

Fish, tin and copper together are sometimes used as symbolic of Cornwall since they show the traditional three main industries of Cornwall. Tin has a special place in the Cornish culture, the Stannary Parliament and 'Cornish pennies' are a testament to the former power of the Cornish tin industry. Cornish tin is highly prized for jewellery, often of mine engines or Celtic designs.

The houses at Penair School are named after four notable tin mines. Among the pubs whose names refer to tin mining are the Tinner's Arms in Zennor and the former Jolly Tinners pub in St Hilary. The pub sign at Zennor pictures a tin miner at work, testimony to its origins.[53] The Jolly Tinners building at St Hilary was at one time used to accommodate the St Hilary Children's Home.[54][55]

On 20 April 2012 Heartlands, the £35m National Lottery funded regeneration project, and gateway to the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site, opened to the public. This free visitor attraction had been 14 years in the planning (since South Crofty mine closed in 1998).[60]

In 2014 work was completed to preserve the iconic New Cooks Kitchen Headframe at South Crofty tin mine.[61] at an approximate cost of £650,000.

Hemerdon Mine, alternatively known as the Hemerdon Ball or Hemerdon Bal Mine,[62] is a historic tungsten and tin mine, 11 km (7 miles) NE of Plymouth, near Plympton, in Devon. It lies to the north of the villages of Sparkwell and Hemerdon and adjacent to the large china clay pits near Lee Moor. The mine, which has been out of operation since 1944, except for the brief operation of a trial mine in the 1980s, hosts one of the largest tungsten and tin deposits in the world.[63][64]

In November 2007 it was announced that South Crofty mine, near Camborne, may restart production in 2009. When it closed in 1998 it was Europe's last tin mine. Its owners Baseresult Holdings Ltd, which bought the mine in 2001, have created a new company, Western United Mines Limited (WUM), to operate it and has said it will be spending in excess of £50m on restarting the mine. The company claims that rising tin prices had given the mine, first opened in the late 16th century, another 80 years of life. More than £3.5m will be spent during the next seven months on continuing the mine development. Crofty Developments, a partner of the new company, still has to resolve a row with the South WestRegional Development Agency (RDA) over use of more than 30 acres (120,000 m2) of land surrounding the site. The RDA wants to make a compulsory purchase order on the site for leisure, housing and industry, but Crofty Developments has been fighting in the High Court to retain the site. The Cornish mining industry, started in 2000 BC, reached its peak in the 19th century, when thousands of workers were employed in up to 2,000 mines, before the industry collapsed when ores began to be produced more cheaply abroad.[65]

Note: The term "mineral railway" is usually understood to mean a railway operated in direct association with a single mine or a group of mines. An ordinary railway might convey the traffic of any consignor. However the terminology is not exact.

The Cornwall Minerals Railway opened in 1874, connecting harbours at Fowey and Newquay and sites of mineral extraction in the area between them, in particular in the Bugle and St Dennis areas. The railway absorbed and extended several existing short mineral lines.

^As noted by de Beer 1960:162, quoting Pliny's garbled geography: "The island of Mictim in which tin is produced is distant inwards from Britain six days' voyage, and that the Britons sailed to it in coracles of wickerwork covered in hide." (Pliny's Natural History IV.104.

^"Diodorus referred to Iktin in the accusative case, from which some commentators have deduced that the nominative cawe was Iktis, but there is no evidence for this", remarks Gavin de Beer, "Iktin" The Geographical Journal126.2 (June 1960:160–167) p. 162.

^The Breage parish register records Epsley's burial in 1689: "Thomas Epsly of Chilchumpton parish, Summersitsheere. He was the man that brought that rare invention of shooting the rocks which came heare in June, 1689, and he died at the bal and was buried at breag [sic] the 16-day of December 1689". Halliday, F. E. (1959) A History of Cornwall. London: Gerald Duckworth; p. 253

Hammersen, L : The control of tin in South West Britain from the 1st century AD to the late 3rd century AD. MA thesis, North Carolina University, 2007.

Jenkin, Kenneth Hamilton : The Cornish Miner: an account of his life above and underground from early times. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1927: three editions, including 3rd edition, 1962 (reprinted by David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1972 ISBN 0-7153-5486-8; reprinted in facsimile with an introduction by John H. Trounson, Launceston: Westcountry, 2004 ISBN 1-902395-06-9)

Jenkin, Kenneth Hamilton : Mines and Miners of Cornwall in 16 volumes, vols. 1–14 originally published by the Truro Bookshop, 1961 onwards and reprinted by various organisations:

Spargo, Thomas (1860). Statistics and Observations on the Mines of Cornwall and Devon.

Trounson, J. H. (1989) The Cornish mineral industry: past performance and future prospect, a personal view 1937–1951; edited by Roger Burt and Peter Waite. Exeter: University of Exeter in association with The National Association of Mining History Organisations

Todd, Arthur C. The Cornish Miner in America: the Contribution to the Mining History of the United States by Emigrant Cornish Miners: the Men Called Cousin Jacks. Arthur H. Clark (publisher). September 1995. ISBN 978-0-87062-238-0.